Elijah had gotten him handcuffed to a chair as he prepared paperwork.  He'd hoped Zechariah could come to bear witness to his own attack, but perhaps he'd have to talk to him later and see if he could get him to sign a few things. He was a lawyer, he'd understand how this worked.

He looked at the man before him, he never looked so old before. He sighed heavily and looked back at his paperwork. "You knew this would happen eventually. I never wanted it to, I tried so hard to keep you out of this place, but you had to keep doing things. You could have been put here plenty of times before." Especially what he did to Noah and Simon, but he didn't say that out loud.

Ben's bulky body sat in the chair handcuffed, an awkward paradox. The fisherman had turned his face away from Elijah and looked towards the door, although he was listening. His eyes narrowed and he drew his upper lip up a little with disgust. "Then how about ye stop wastin' time, and do what ye need to do? " he grunted, still not looking at the young man on the other side of the desk. "'cause I ain't sorry for punching that..." The handcuffs rattled as he cleched his fists. "... that boar, that snake. T' hell with 'im." He grimaced.

Elijah sighed heavily as he started to fill out the paper work. "I do not know what you think he did, Ben. Zechariah is a barrister and I've worked with him for some time and he's always seemed like a respectable gentleman." He was glad the place was empty. "Why do you think he did these things? I am curious." He knew he was wrong, but he would let the man speak and he could show him how wrong he was.

Ben huffed and leaned forward a little. “Respectable… like that Mr. Hurley, I’m sure.” He threw himself back into the chair. “’e exploited Simon…” His mouth hung slightly open as he looked for the right word, then he clarified: “You know how I mean… Folk like ‘im are always danglin’ their money on front of our young un's because they know they ‘ave nowt and are desperate. And now ‘e's lustin’ after our Alice… I swear to God, if ‘e has…” his breathing became faster… if he's had ‘er, I'll kill ‘im!” He smashed his fists down on the table. The handcuffs cut into the sides of his wrists.

Elijah rose his brow. "There are bad people, that Hurley was probably like that deceased Carrington man. Money can hide monsters, but I've worked with Mister Meijer, and while he does like to egg people on, he's never been the sort that I know of. And don't be ridiculous. I am sure there has been nothing between him and Alice. She's smart and wouldn't let him touch her. And Tobias would kill him too if he had, but she doesn't have much free time away so I don't see how they'd have time." He said, as it definitely seemed like there was very few times she could have even with just her sisters. He jumped at the fist slam and put his hands on them. "Relax. You have to think about your health. You really need to stop this, this violent rage you keep falling into. It won't end well. I am telling you this right now. You don't want to be here. But I can not have you hurting anyone. I have given you too many chances." He sighed and put his face in his hands. "I feel like I've been protecting a dangerous animal sometimes."

Bruises formed where the handcuffs had cut into his wrists, but the pain was almost satisfying, something to ground him.

He launched himself back against the chair and grumbled, but that last sentence pierced his angry defence. He watched Elijah quietly. His breathing slowed.

"I don't want to give you trouble, Elijah. But I will protect me bairns if I must. Ye didn't hear Tobias. 'e said that beast was in 'is 'ome, seducin' Alice."

Elijah was glad he had calmed, but he stared at him for a moment, then sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose as he closed his eyes. "Mister Meijer is not seducing Alice, I can almost guarantee. Tobias is probably just paranoid. For one thing, he is getting married and seems very excited at being a father. For another, I don't even know how they would have spent the time together to do such a thing. She is usually around her family or Tobias isn't she? And Zechariah has cases and his own life."

"As if marriage means owt for the likes of 'im," he scoffed. "He was in their 'ome, Elijah... and 'e's already done the same to Simon..."

Elijah sighed and looked at him while his forehead rested comfortably in the palm of his hand. "That.. I don't think that is the case. You never knew the truth about Simon until it was too late. And I don't want to speak about the dead, I want him to rest in peace. But do not think that he is some predator who just wants to seduce Wards. If you talk to Alice, she will tell you that."

"You knew about Mr. Meijer and 'im?" Ben demanded to know.

Elijah held up his hands. "Not at all! But ... I knew a few things about Simon. Things I didn't want to tell you for his sake." He frowned. He would know the truth when he went to dinner with the other man later, but at the moment he wasn't certain if Ben was just being paranoid as well. "He... no, I said I wouldn't speak of the dead." He said and tried to refocus on his paperwork.

Ben tried to fold his arms, realized he couldn't and just sat back, looking towards the entrance. "'E 'ad it comin'."

Elijah rose his brow and frowned. "Had what coming?" he said very careful to temper any emotions that were beginning to come up.

"E 'ad a good punch in 'is smug face comin'. 'E was bribin' Simon with 'is money... And I'll believe Tobias any day before I believe that bastard. If I'll learn 'e's been indecent towards Alice, I'll snap 'is neck."

Elijah leaned in close and frowned. "Just stop it, Ben. I have always tried to stand up for you, but stop it. You can't punch someone because you think they gave your son money. And you shouldn't say things like that that can hurt people. That's not much different than that article in the paper that could have ruined me."

Ben turned his eyes back to Elijah. Well... this was the closest they had ever come to discussing it. It was nearly an admission. "You don't go seekin' out those that 'ave nowt." The bastard had eaten at his table and Ben had let it happen...

Elijah hung his head, he did not want to be having this conversation. "Or maybe they were both men of.. unusual desires.. and.. when that is something forbidden, if you find someone you like you can't care that maybe they have more or less than what you would prefer. You like them, and that's enough." He had literally no idea what happened between them, but this was bothering him. 'I have no idea what had happened between them, Ben, if anything. But I am not going to go after anyone for something that only might have happened in the past. He's never done or spoken of anything illegal in my presence, you attacked someone. You see what I'm trying to get at here?"

"Still entered Tobias' home to seduce our Alice." Ben muttered. Were they going in circles? Yeah, but it always circled back to that, didn't it?

Elijah wanted to rip out his hair. "I don't imagine he did. Alright? Tell me why you think he did??" He finally said as he looked up at Ben.

"That's what Tobias said!" He repeated with raised voice.

Elijah frowned more. "He is just paranoid. He didn't see them together or anything, did he?"

"Aye, he did, 's what I said," Ben lost his temper. "Are ye thick or what?"

Elijah frowned at Ben more and folded his arms. "When? Certainly not today. Today he just claimed he went into his home with the intent and honestly that sounds like conjecture. " He was suddenly pleased with his small time spent in courts. "Yet you let it get into your head and turn it into something more. If he had done that, don't you think Tobias would have done something to him as well??"

Alasdair had been on the beat most of the day with Constable Wood still trying to clear old cases. It had been a long day and Alasdair hoped it wouldnt get any longer.

Wood had clocked off early because of a medical appointment so Alasdair had made his way back to the station. He had placed his tunic over the chair and his hat on the desk and made himself a hot cup of coffee before sitting down to read through more reports that Elijah had highlighted to him about unsolved cases. He smirked as he saw the bicycle report. Alasdair had moved 260 miles from Perth to be chasing up leads for pushbike.....nah that could wait a little longer

He noticed that the interview room door was shut but payed no attention to it. It could have been any one of his constables who was in there and he would end up reading the report so he carried on flicking through his paperwork

"And what business had 'e bein' in 'is 'ome without permission?!" he argued. A reasonable part of him was starting to see that he was losing this argument. But when had he ever listened to reason if it meant admitting he was wrong? And then, he wanted to hate that man.

Elijah frowned and clenched his fist, he didn't want to hit him but he did want to do something with his hands he was getting angry. "Alice could have let him in. You and Tobias keep treating her like she isn't a person. She made a mistake and has suffered since, why make it worse?!"

He had no idea Alasdair had arrived but it was an interview between the two of them.

"I ain't treatin' 'er like that. This ain't about 'er. It's about 'im!" he retorted. "She would 'ave 'ad no business lettin' a man in without 'er 'usband knowin'," he then decided to contradict what he had just said.

Alasdair continued his paperwork and had filed off alot of old reports that had been dealt with and solved cases. He made a note of items that had to be returned and/or "disposed" of by constable cockburn.

Alasdair had heard voices in the room but knew by the tone and mannerisms that it was Elijah. He knew that elijah wanted to proceed further in his career so held back about going into the interview room and waited to see if Elijah would come for help